Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

Needs of other species should be considered.Secretary Lujan directed the Recovery Team to consider "effects on otherthreatened and endangered species and those species which might be listed inthe future." The Recovery Team attempted to identify these species and therequirements of a select group of priority species. Efforts then were made toensure that the recovery plan provided this protection to the maximum extentpractical without increasing the overall cost. The plan also contains additionalinformation on the status of these species. The Recovery Team believes thatlandowners and managers may want to consider these other species in aneffort to reduce the long-term costs of protecting species in these ecosystems.The plan should be responsive to new information.2. Biological PrinciplesAs new information is produced by the monitoring and research program, moreefficient ways to bring about recovery may be developed. New data mayindicate that DCAs need to be larger or smaller; modification of the monitoringprogram may be required; improved silvicultural methods may be demonstratedto create and maintain owl habitat, or for integrating timber productionwith owl protection; and new, more effective administrative procedures may bedevised. The Recovery Team wants to encourage the development and implementationof these improvements. Specific recommendations are included forrevising the plan periodically and for assuring that proposed modifications tothe plan are considered fully and implemented as appropriate.This recovery plan is based on biological principles that are accepted widely byconservation biologists. The application of these principles to northern spottedowls first was described in the Conservation Strategy of the Interagency ScientificCommittee (Thomas et al. 1990). The most important of these principlesare that 1) species are more secure from extinction if habitat and local populationsare distributed across their entire range, 2) providing for species in largehabitat blocks is superior to providing small blocks; and 3) movement ofindividuals throughout the landscape is vital to the maintenance of all localpopulations within the range. A summary of the reasons behind each of theseprinciples and their application to northern spotted owls follows.The risk of local or widespread extirpation of northernspotted owls will be reduced by managingfor owls acrosstheir entire range and the variety of ecological conditionswithin that range.Four primary reasons can be cited for the importance of maintaining the fullrange of the species. First, any significant range reduction most likely wouldreduce the total number of local populations in the species' metapopulation.The security of the metapopulation is related directly to the number of localpopulations. A reduction in local populations increases the risk of extinction forthe whole metapopulation. Second, a reduction in range also would reduce theoverall range of environments occupied by the species, making the species morevulnerable to environmental stochasticity. Habitats at different elevations, indifferent forest types, in different ownerships, and in different parts of the owl'sgeographic range may act as refugia for the species in the face of catastrophes,rapid environmental change, chronic degradation of habitat from causes suchas forest diseases, or unforseen changes in interactions among species. Populationsdistributed across the geographic and ecological conditions within therange provide a higher likelihood that the subspecies will survive such events.100